Driving to North Dakota

Because my birthday this year caused me to ring the 70 year bell, I decided it deserved a little jaunt to celebrate!  The first phase of the celebration took place in Poncha Springs/Salida where I met my adopted twin, Pete Varne and his wife Tish, joined by my good friend from Pocha Springs, Karen Timbrell, and Varney's friend from Salida, Ed Berg.

We started our evening at Vino Salida, a small local winery which is developing more new wines

The Vino Salida Building---Makes Its Own Statement!

each year.  It shares a delightful and funky looking Butler building with an auto parts store! After tasting a number of wines, we purchased some and headed for dinner at the Twisted Cork, where Pete shared one of Vino Salida wines.

70th birthday desserts at the Twisted Cork
 

The gap to St. Elmo

 

   
                                          Karen and her dog, Gizmo, in front of the St. Elmo Store,
                                             which is actually open in the summer.

                                             Penny & Gizmo in front of a B&B

                                               Useful signs on the Main Street!


 On Saturday Karen took me to St. Elmo, which is up a secret canyon in the range of mountains west of Highway 50 en route from Poncha Springs to Fairplay.  I had always wondered what was through "the gap" between the mountains! We drove on a narrow trail through the trees and back through the gap and there we found the remains of the 1880s mining town of St. Elmo!


There are some wonderful log homes remaining:

                                                          This one looks quite liveable.

                                                                  
                                                Note its great dove-tail-style log joints!

                                               Another well-maintained 1880s home

                                                   I liked this view...

Today I left Pocha Springs to drive up through northern Colorado's mountains and across Wyoming to North Dakota.  What an interesting drive!

                                                     Unusual clouds...

                                          Dozens of coal trains, nearly 2 miles long

Central Wyoming seems to be a beehive of energy development.  I saw dozens of coal trains,
nearly two miles long, headed to ???? from great open pit mines.  Countless oil rigs developing new wells, tankers hauling oil in all directions.  Meanwhile the antelope, sheep, horses and cattle continue to munch around all the well equipment!

The two good things I saw before I got to Gillette?

                                           Bill, Wyoming is alive and well!  This is the
                                           entire town, by the way!

                                            There is a great deal of development and they
                                             seem to name their restaurants wisely!!!

Over and out....

Visiting the Chapmans

While Lee and I were wandering about in Iowa we visited our long-time friends, Karen and George Chapman who now live in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.  They formerly lived in Silverton and were family friends for many years so it seemed like old home week to me to visit them in their new home.

Their new home is really a lovely old mansion, built in the 1800s.  It is so large it has two staircases
to the upper floor---one for VIPs and the other for the rest of us!

This is the front of the house.  In the tower at the top they have a Christmas tree each year.
What an amazing place it is and they seem to be enjoying Iowa a great deal.

George took me to the Old Thresher's Museum where they have what seemed like every known
steam engine-tractor-device as well as complete sets of Farmall and John Deere tractors plus
all sorts of other agricultural relics.  I plan to return for the Labor Day Steam Engine event
when they haul the steam machines out and fire them up.  What fun!!!

Chapman's took us on a tour of the area and to dinner at Bonapart's Retreat, a charming country
inn where I had the best pork chop ever!  Thanks again, Karen and George!

I managed to forget to take any pictures of our friends so I'll close with this nosy little Iowa squirrel!

Touring the East Coast of Iowa

A few days ago I flew to Des Moines, Iowa to meet my friend Lee, who is from Tucson.  We rented a car and began our tour of what she calls "The East Coast of Iowa", a/k/a the
Mississippi River Valley.

Our first order of business was to tour the Covered Bridges of Madison County.
Do you recall the movie with Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood or perhaps you
read the charming little book.  The bridges (six of them) were built between
1870 and 1884.  Several have been moved; all have been restored to a certain
extent.  All were in the beautiful eastern Iowa countryside surrounded by acres of
cornfields, small streams, and well-tended farms with great tall silos.

Imes Bridge 1870

Cedar, 1883

Our next adventure was to travel across the center of the state where our adventures began to Cedar Rapids where we went to see the Brucemoor Mansion and Grounds, a
large country estate from the early 20th Century.  It is on the National
Historic Register so imagine our surprise to find a display of large photographs of other buildings which are on the Register and right there on the top was the Town Hall of Silverton, Colorado!
(Doesn't seem quite right that I should have had to travel all the way to central
Iowa to learn that my own City Hall is included!)

Maple Tree on the Ground

Brucemoor Mansion, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Today we happily got to the river valley.  Even though the Mississppi is very low in water due to the extensive drought of her contributing geographical areas, the first glimpse of the river valley was stunning!

The fall leaves on the trees were also stunning....

...as we drove the Great River Road north to the border of Iowa.  The road wound up and down the bluffs along the river through an area that was spared the great scouring of the Ice Age.  As a result the topography was interesting with lots of hills and valleys.  Every now and then there would be a glimpse of the river and a set of locks, which are numerous.

Lock #15 and Dam

Next destination was the Effigy Mounds National Monument, which contains several hundred founds which date back up to 2500 years ago.  It is believed they were used as burial mounds for early native tribes as well as for ceremonial use.  We enjoyed a two-hour hike up the bluffs and through the forests to see a large bear-shaped mound which was 137 feet by 70 feet.  From the top of the bluffs the river views were marvelous...

Trail Up the Bluff

Lee Enjoying the View Along the Trail

River View from the Bluff

Penny and the Great River

Tonight we are on the Wisconsin side of the river, staying in a lovely country inn.  Tomorrow we plan to seek out several Lands End outlet stores in the area and then we'll return to the river valley and work our way south.  Our ultimate destination is Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where we
will visit our good friends, Karen and George Chapman, before returning to Silverton and Tucson.

I love the colorful trees with all the reds...

Goodnight!